Standing: Book 3

POV: 1st person by Percy

Setting: New York, San Fransisco (present day)

Genre: Children's fantasy, mythology

Source: Physical copy

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Pages: 320

Release: May 5th, 2007

Rating: 5 stars

IT'S NOT EVERYDAY YOU FIND YOURSELF IN COMBAT WITH A HALF-LION, HALF-HUMAN.

But when you're the son of a Greek god, it happens. And now my friend Annabeth is missing, a goddess is in chains and only five half-blood heroes can join the quest to defeat the doomsday monster.

Oh, and guess what? The Oracle has predicted that not all of us will survive...(Goodreads)

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Loved it, which should be no surprise by now!

This book follows Percy in the winter as he and his friends go on a journey across the country to find Annabeth, rescue a goddess, stop a titan general, and continue to foil Luke's plans to raise Kronos. All in less than a week. No pressure, right?

Percy remained as brave and courageous as always. One thing that we're beginning to see is that he is his own hero, and he's not following the footsteps of anyone but himself. We also begin to see a bit of romance developing, which is adorable to read about.

"Do you think it's the right thing to do? Because I know one thing about you, Percy. Your heart is always in the right place. Listen to it."

We really get to see a lot more backstory of individual characters. Annabeth's family is introduced (and if you've read/planning to read Magnus Chase, then yes, knowing about Annabeth's father might be relevant), as well as Zoë Nightshade, and a bit of Bianca and Nico di Angelos.

The gods are much more prevalent in this book. We get to see Artemis, Apollo, Dionysus, Ares, Aphrodite, and Athena in on the action, helping Percy and his friends when the need arrises. This goes to show how serious the stakes have become, enough that the gods need to step in to ensure that their heroes will not die, and ultimately, increase their chances of succeeding.

One of the main themes in this book is the power of choice, and the potential consequences. Join Luke/Kronos or stay on Team Good? Become a Hunter of Artemis, or remain unbound forever? Face your fear or run from it? Burden yourself, or burden others? These are all choices that the characters must make in the book, choices that ultimately will change the course of their lives forever.

This book has a few sad and anxious moments in it. In a way, I think it's fitting, showing that Kronos isn't playing around anymore, that he is rising, and that there will be casualties. It's no longer a game; the stakes are getting higher and higher, very soon approaching a stake that cannot be lost.

"If I'm going to survive," I said, "it won't be because I've got a lion-skin coat. I'm not Hercules."

I'd strongly recommend you read this series if you haven't yet, because it's fantastic!